Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which fruitless payments in excess of £30,000 her Department has made by (a) recipient of each such payment, (b) purpose of each such payment, (c) value of each such payment and (d) reason that payment was classified as fruitless in the 2017-18 financial year to date.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
For 2017/18 that information is not yet available but will be disclosed when the Department publishes its 2017/18 Annual Report and Accounts.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what age group his Department's advertising campaign to encourage people to check the value of their State Pension is intended to target.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The ‘Get to know your State Pension’ campaign encourages people of working age to use the Check your State Pension service for a forecast of their entitlement and their State Pension age. More than 6 million forecasts have now been issued by the service.
Whilst the campaign is primarily aimed at those aged 40 to State Pension age, advertising through most channels will reach all age groups.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of decisions on whether employment and support allowance claimants will not have to undergo further work capability assessments as a result of a lifelong, progressive, degenerative or incurable condition will be made as a result of a paper-based assessment.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
This information is not available.
Only Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit equivalent claimants, with the most severe and lifelong health condition or disabilities, who are unlikely to ever be able to move in to work, will fall within this criteria. We expect the majority of these claimants will be assessed on paper, and will not need a face to face assessment
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the response by the Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work of 12 September 2017 to the letter from the hon. Member for Edinburgh East, on stopping of repeated work capability assessments for people who have lifelong, progressive, degenerative or incurable conditions, how that status will be determined; and whether people with such conditions who are already in receipt of employment and support allowance will be required to undergo a further work capability assessment to determine that status.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
We will consider whether a claimant meets the criteria for stopping routine assessments as part of our existing WCA process, which involves assessing individuals against a set of functional descriptors to determine how their illness or disability affects their ability to work. The criteria are being considered as part of a claimant’s initial or next WCA.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the response by the Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work of 12 September 2017 to the letter from the hon. Member for Edinburgh East, on stopping of repeated work capability assessments for people who have lifelong, progressive, degenerative or incurable conditions, how that status will be determined; and whether people with such conditions who are already in receipt of employment and support allowance will be required to undergo a further work capability assessment to determine that status.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
We will consider whether a claimant meets the criteria for stopping routine assessments as part of our existing WCA process, which involves assessing individuals against a set of functional descriptors to determine how their illness or disability affects their ability to work. The criteria are being considered as part of a claimant’s initial or next WCA.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many eligible disability living allowance (DLA) claimants have been invited to apply for personal independence payments since April 2016; and of those claimants invited to apply, how many have not applied within the time allowed and have had their DLA terminated as a result.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
A decision is made on a case-by-case basis on whether or not to cease DLA payments to claimants who do not register for PIP within the allowed time. Additional support is provided for those claimants identified as ‘vulnerable’ (i.e. mental health or learning disabilities) who do not respond to the PIP invite letter.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants living in Edinburgh East constituency are served by St Andrew Street job centre, Edinburgh; and how many of those are (a) disabled and (b) women.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Edinburgh City claimant count is currently shared with High Riggs Jobcentre and primarily split by age group as opposed to postcode.
The claimant count for High Riggs is 2245 of which 720 are female. This information is available from the following link: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 5.
Guidance for users is available at:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp
These are UC and JSA claimants served by Edinburgh City and High Riggs Jobcentres. We are unable to identify disabled claimants, or provide exact figures of ESA and IS claimants, however the purpose of the equality analysis is to help establish how many people are likely to be affected by the proposal.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether a public consultation will take place on the proposal to close St Andrew Street job centre in Edinburgh.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
There will be no public consultation on the proposal to close Edinburgh City Jobcentre as the proposed move to merge with High Riggs Jobcentre is 1.1 miles in distance. We have committed to a public consultation for offices over three miles and 20 minutes away by public transport.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, by what criteria St Andrew Street job centre, Edinburgh, has been selected for closure.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Department has sought, where feasible, to merge sites in close proximity as part of its overall review of estate. Merging the staff and services from Edinburgh City into High Riggs Jobcentre optimises use of space, ensures value for money and enables effective delivery of services to the public. The merge in reverse was explored however this was deemed not viable due to the underutilisation of space.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of assessments for personal independence payments were (a) paper-based and (b) face-to-face in (i) 2014, (ii) 2015 and (iii) 2016 in (A) the UK and (B) Edinburgh East constituency.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Great Britain
Period | Face-to-face Reviews (%) | Paper Based Reviews (%) |
1 Jan to 31 Dec 2014 | 80% | 20% |
1 Jan to 31 Dec 2015 | 81% | 19% |
1 Jan to 31 Oct 2016 | 83% | 17% |
Edinburgh East Constituency
Period | Face-to-face Reviews (%) | Paper Based Reviews (%) |
1 Jan to 31 Dec 2014 | 81% | 19% |
1 Jan to 31 Dec 2015 | 79% | 21% |
1 Jan to 31 Oct 2016 | 80% | 20% |